SemiRestore is one of the most exciting iPhone jailbreaking tools going to be made available for free to public in recent times. It’s not actually a tool to jailbreak your iPhone but rather it helps you restore your iPhone without wiping your jailbreak. In other words, this program will restore your iPhone or any iDevice without actually using iTunes.

This is extremely useful for newer devices such as iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 as currently there’s no method of restoring it without installing the latest iOS. Installing the latest iOS means you will lose your jailbreak and there’s no way to jailbreak it until the next available jailbreak becomes available, and that’s usually take a long time.

SemiRestore is currently in Beta but will be made available to public very soon. When I last checked the progress is currently at 65%.

Before you begin, please be sure to backup your data just in case something goes wrong.

How to use SemiRestore to Restore iPhone, iPad or iPod touch (Mac Version)

Step 1: Download SemiRestore from the official website once it’s publicly available.

Step 2: Install OpenSSH and APT 0.7 strict from Cydia

Step 3: Open Terminal on your Mac

Step 4: Do a change directory command (cd) to your downloads folder

Step 5: Run the following command to copy SemiRestore to your device:

scp SemiRestore root@192.168.1.101:/var/root/SemiRestore

Note: You will need to change the IP address to the Wi-Fi IP address of your device. The default password is alpine

(you can check your iPhone’s IP address by going to Settings, WiFi, tap on the WiFi network your device is currently connected to)

Step 6: SSH into your iPhone using the following command

ssh root@192.168.1.101

Step 7: Navigate to the /var/root directory on your device. There you should see the SemiRestore file.

Step 8: Secure the SemiRestore file with this command:

chmod +x SemiRestore

Step 9: Run this command:

./SemiRestore-beta5

Step 10: You will see the following command prompts on your terminal window:

Please be patient while SemiRestore performs all the work for you. Depending how much data you have on your device, it may take a bit of time for the process to complete. At times you will find Terminal seems to hang but please be assured that it’s busy doing its thing. Your iPhone will reboot a few times and don’t interrupt even if you see the setup screen.

Once everything is done, you will find that your iPhone is now “fully restored” with the same iOS version. Cydia is still present on your home screen but everything else will be set to factory default. Your previously installed apps and other tweaks will no longer be available.

Now let’s wait until it’s publicly available, I’m sure it won’t take long.

This is probably the best redsn0w version yet as it allows you to downgrade iOS on iPhone 4S or iPad 2/3 without using iTunes.

By downgrading your iOS to an earlier version such as iOS 5.0.1, you can enjoy an untethered jailbreak on your iPhone or iPad once more!

Release notes by MuscleNerd and some warnings:

The new feature is at Extras->Even More->Restore

You cannot downgrade without the personalized SHSH blobs for your device at that lower firmware. You need to have fetched those blobs while the signing window was open, using either Cydia’s built-in TSS@Home feature, or with TinyUmbrella. The new Restore screen of redsn0w lets you choose either the remote blobs or local ones (for the earlier firmware). If you don’t know where TinyUmbrella put your blobs, TinyUmbrella has a button that will show you (copy them out of that folder and feed them to redsn0w).

The A5 downgrade method actually updates to the latest firmware before downgrading to the earlier one.This process updates your baseband to whatever is newest.DO NOT USE THIS METHOD IF YOU RELY ON UNOFFICIAL UNLOCKS of your iPhone4S. Those who used the temporary SAM technique to unlock their iPhones to specific SIMs shouldn’t be affected by this baseband update.

2. Connect your device and close iTunes if it launched itself automatically.

3. Go to Extras.

4. Click on Even More.

5. Click on Restore.

6. You will see IPSW, Local and Remote. Click on IPSW, and point redsn0w to the firmware file to which you want to downgrade to e.g. iOS 5.0.1. Redsn0w will now ask you for the stock iOS 5.1.1 firmware.

7. If you have your SHSH blobs saved:

Locally on your computer – click Local and find the .plist file that has the SHSH blobs for your device. Click Next.

Remotely on Cydia – redsn0w should automatically put your device into Recovery mode to fetch the files from Cydia server.

8. redsn0w will automatically stitch the SHSH blobs to the IPSW firmware file which you selected, and then it will automatically restore your device without having to launch iTunes.

Do note that this first release may contain some bugs so only use it if you’re desperate.

Share your experience and thoughts about this new tool by leaving your comments below!